I will be installing a flag pole bracket on a brick column on my house. I bought some Tapcon brand screws and a concrete drill to match. I already have a hammer drill.

So my question is, should I drill my holes into the brick itself, or into the mortar between the bricks ? My concern is for the integrity of the brick facade of the column, thinking that if the brick fails, you gotta replace a brick, but if mortar fails, you just patch the mortar with the brick remaining unharmed.

I mounted a garden hose reel on a brick face. Attached to the mortar. No problems or looseness for the 8-9 or 10 years it's been mounted. I've forgotten the brand of screw and expansion anchor sleeve I used, but you definitely need the expansion sleeve, set in drilled hole in mortar for the mounting screw to screw into. Look around the hardware store and you'll find them. They're screws and expansion sleeves for attaching things to mortar. You will find the expansion sleeves comes in either metal or plastic. Of course metal is the strongest (what I used) and would probably last longer than plastic but plastic may be the only option if using smaller screws.

If a mortar mount worked for a garden hose reel, I think it would be fine for a flag pole bracket. One question is ... would all the holes in the flag pole bracket line up with the the mortar lines?

EDIT: I think maybe another consideration specific to a flag pole bracket is how close together the holes in the bracket are? Don't think I'd want them real close mounted in either mortar or brick. If they're close together, maybe mount a small board piece to the mortar and then attach the flag pole bracket to the board. Just thinking out loud. If I went that route, I'd probably use a piece of composite board. Looks like wood, but there’s no staining, painting, or refinishing. Durable composite construction means no rotting, warping, or splintering boards. Mounted to the mortar with good expansion screws would provide a strong base to attach a flag pole bracket if bracket screw spacing is a concern.

Would depend on the hardness of the mortar.... but you'll be lucky if the holes on the mount all will line up to just mortar....

Sometimes tapcons take some training to implant. better to have the hole a little loose and have to put a shim in than to have it too tight and the
tapcon shear off while trying to drive it in. But you should not really have to worry about breaking a brick with drilling the size hole that is needed for a tapcon.

Attach to the mortar.
I attached a 1" thick piece of hardwood about 8" x 10" to the mortar, then attached the flagpole bracket to the wood.

Put a coat of spar urethane on the wood. That needs to be refreshed periodically.

I've done both and neither have resulted in any issues. It wasn't my favorite thing to do as the hammer drill is loud. I was driving tapcons into multiple homes and had my hammer drill set up with the drill bit and impact set up with the socket. Go from one right to the next.

As a former bricklayer, attach only to the mortar.

Some bricks are softer than others and if you try to drill into a hard brick, it can shatter.

Mortar is more easily drilled into and is more easily replaceable.

As a current electrician I've mounted a lot of boxes and panels to brick. Usually using anchors but some Tapcons. I always aim for the solid brick as opposed to the mortar joint. I prefer the things I mount to actually stay put.

quote:

Originally posted by h2oys:
As a former bricklayer, attach only to the mortar.

I'm not gonna argue with a professional, but it's always seemed to me that mortar was not nearly as strong as the bricks.

I’ve set thousands of anchors in brick. Just drill slowly. The mortar may not be dense enough to hold long term. Especially something like a flag holder that is going to be subject to wind.

are you putting one hole in a layer of mortar?
two holes in two layers of mortar ?
three holes in three layers of mortar?
four holes in four layers of mortar ?

how heavy is the load on said fasteners? in the mortar ?

You don't need sleeves to use Tapcons.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by h2oys:
As a former bricklayer, attach only to the mortar.

I'm not gonna argue with a professional, but it's always seemed to me that mortar was not nearly as strong as the bricks.

I agree, it's not what is easier, it is what works the best.

quote:

the brick itself, or into the mortar between the bricks

I can tell you from experience drilling in brick is not easy but attaching to mortar is just plain unreliable.
Sometimes mortar holds but in the brick it always holds.
Been there, done that - many times over.

When I made a black walnut mantle for my parents.fireplace (3 inch thick by 12 inches wide by 5 feet long with brackets cut from the same board) I drilled into the mortar, put in lead expansion lugs, when we sold the house it was still as solid as the day that I first installed it. I really hated to let that chunk of walnut stay with the house, but I left it.

My mom has the same flagpole bracket. I drilled 5/16" holes (4) into the mortar (little deeper than required) and inserted 5/16" plastic drop-in anchors (Plumber's Screwgun Kit #9044, M Green & Co., Philadelphia, PA).

Then substituted the provided 12 x 1 ½" hex head screws for 12 x 2 ½" stainless hex head screws. A short piece of solder was inserted into each anchor for old-school insurance.

Very tight job. Even 60-75 mph storm winds have not dislodged the bracket. Previous to the deeper hole, longer screws, and solder 'insurance', the bracket pulled out of the same mortar holes with the standard 1.5" screws during a heavy gale. Guess, with the thickness of the bracket along with unevenness of the wall, not even 1" of the screw was in the anchor.

quote:

Originally posted by BigWhup:
You don't need sleeves to use Tapcons.

I don't use tapcons. Always use a screw and expansion sleeve when mounting to mortar. Much MUCH more secure than just a threaded screw.

quote:

Originally posted by sandman76:
As a current electrician I've mounted a lot of boxes and panels to brick. Usually using anchors but some Tapcons. I always aim for the solid brick as opposed to the mortar joint. I prefer the things I mount to actually stay put.

I agree.

My second reply... I agree that going into the brick is better... some mortar is almost as hard as brick and some is super soft... as long as you are more than say 1" away from the outer edge of a brick ... it will not break or shatter. The only potential problem is if the brick is real hard and the hole is not quite large or deep enough a impact driver can actually shear off the Tapcon.
And as someone mentioned above... I hate using an impact driver for more than a minute... just too loud.. give me a good cordless drill for driving screws in a deck or such for any length of time.

Second reply as well...

Whether to go into brick or into the mortar depends entirely on the type of brick. Some bricks have no holes, 2 holes, 4 holes, some 16 holes, etc.

When a brick is laid it is done on a bed of mortar. Depending on the time/quality taken, when your press the brick in the bed of mortar will squeeze into the holes and that is the goal so as to create a solid wall. As the name implies, the bed joint is the horizontal joint. The vertical joint is created by sweeping your brick trowel forward to remove the excess mortar that squeezed out from the bed joint and wiping it in the forward part of the brick. Then again depending upon the time/quality taken, the bricklayer takes the next brick and spreads mortar on the backside of the vertical section of the next brick to be laid so as to create a full layer of mortar on the vertical joint.

There are many different types of bricks, there are multiple manufacturers, and each mfg will make bricks to their own specifications. Also how old is the brick. Was it fired in the 1800's, the 1900's, what is the composition of the brick? Mortar is mortar. It is more of a known entity because it is sand, cement, lime, and sometimes coloring.

Between my father, a lifelong stone/brick mason, and myself over the span of 20 years, we've laid well over a million bricks.

Since you have no idea what you are drilling into if you are drilling into the brick itself, you can get lucky or you can be unlucky. It sounds like some posters have been lucky many times over. However if you get unlucky, you can break the face off of the brick, crack the brick inside the wall and not even know it, drill into a complete void as no mortar is in the hole of the brick and thus your tapcon/expansion sleeve is only grabbing onto 1/4" of a brick, etc.

Just too many reasons to avoid going into the brick versus the mortar. Now if the mortar is "soft", then it was either too sandy when mixed, has been water/weather worn. Only in those situations would I suggest going into the brick.

Now which joint to drill into? My recommendation would be to drill into the bed joint as the odds are greater the mortar will solid from the front to the back of the brick. Some bricklayers are too lazy/in too much of a hurry/etc. and won't have fully mortared the vertical joint from front to back.

The hard part is we can all be correct. It is just that you are drilling into something and don't know what is behind your drill bit.

However to each his own and best of luck regardless of your choice.

I'm trying to mount some security cameras and of course, my house is all brick.

I bought a brand new Dewalt masonry bit, and using my Dewalt hammerdrill, I've drilled one hole into the brick...to a depth of about 3/16" in about 6 minutes time. Not sure what type of diamond these bricks are made from, but they're damned near impossible to drill. House is 90+ years old if that matters.

So I'm going to try again, but will try mounting to the mortar instead. Hopefully, that will drill easier.

But the cameras are a helluva lot lighter, and won't be subjected to the stresses of strong winds that a flagpole bracket could be prey to.

Wish you luck.

I've installed (fake) shutters and drilled into the mortar, but also put a shot of caulk into it before running the fasteners in. Figured that even if it oozed the caulk out, enough would remain to help seal it from water.